ACADEMY NEWS19th September 2014

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Sara DaveyAcademy Principal

The Academy has been delighted to show visitors the excellent facilities and wonderful students and teachers that we have at Mounts Bay Academy.

Last week we hosted Andrew George MP, who was invited in to speak to the Year 9 students about responsibility and he also opened our new outdoor debating chamber called Freedom Square. We also welcomed the Head of Education in Cornwall, Mrs Jane Black, and the new Regional Commissioner for Academies and Schools in the South West of England, Sir David Carter. I am pleased to say that we received very positive feedback from our guests who commented that, “Mounts Bay is a wonderful school with excellent leadership”. This is a testament to the fabulous team of leaders we have who go above and beyond to create learning experiences and opportunities for all the students.

Principal’s Report

This week we welcomed another member of the Government who appears frequently on Question Time and is tipped to be the next Conservative Party leader, The Right Honourable Sajid Javid. He was taken on a whistle-stop tour of our facilities and was very complimentary about the Academy. His photos and tweets can be found on his Twitter page.

BEINSPIRED

On Thursday morning Sajid Javid, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, visited Mounts Bay Academy. During his visit he officially opened the Academy's new state of the art sports changing rooms. The changing rooms were completely modernised before the summer holidays and have been transformed into a bright, inspiring and vital space.

From there he visited the Cube, which houses the Academy's Arts Award programme and Media Team, where Year 9 student Loren Trevorrow was waiting to carry out a quick interview for MBTV. Next he visited the 3G pitch where he met Year 7 footballers and accepted the challenge to take a penalty against Eddy Hall, the Academy's star goalkeeper. Before he left the Minister saw a student debate on Scottish independence taking place in Freedom Square.

Mr Javid said, "The school is one of the best I've seen in terms of the variety of things they offer." He finished with a message for students, "Keep working hard and you'll be able to achieve your ambitions."

Ministerial Visit

Sajid Javid and Derek Thomas meet students in the new changing rooms

BEINSPIRED

The Geography Department welcomed back a former student, Luke Pye, this week. Luke, who has recently graduated with a degree in World Development and Geography, shared his experiences of working with the local A.C.E charity and taught Year 11 lessons on Globalisation and Sustainable Development. Next week Luke will be running an aspirations workshop for Year 11 students who may be interested in working in the field of world development. It is always great to see our former students doing well and we would like to thank Luke for his recent contributions.

Geography Visitor

During the course of winter 2013/14 Mounts Bay Academy took a group of students skiing with the company Interski. The 26 hotels that Interski use were each asked to nominate their ‘Group of the Season’. This recognises general behaviour of the students and staff, levels of tiredness, courtesy and awareness of energy conservation. We are delighted to report that Mounts Bay Academy were chosen and have been awarded a certificate in recognition of the students’ exemplary behaviour while skiing. Well done to all who took part.

Skiing Award

BEINSPIRED

Students in Years 9, 10 and 11 and their teachers were inspired today by the Institute of Physics and their talk ‘Magic Materials and the Science of Invisibility’. Claire Woollacott, a theoretical physicist from the University of Exeter, amazed the students with demonstrations, videos and her knowledge about how materials can be invisible. She explained that scientists had already achieved invisibility on a small scale in the infra-red spectrum and suggested it was only a matter of time before these results were replicated in the visible spectrum. Claire talked about material properties, wave theory, graphene (a relativistic particle with ballistic transport) and metamaterials. She also told us about the future technological developments that are being investigated by scientists at the moment. Who would have thought that we could have windows that could generate electricity or a bendy phone or kindle? Well done to all the students who helped with the demonstrations and those who answered and asked questions. There are many budding physicists at MBA!

The talk was a big hit with students. Dylan from Year 9 said,“I loved the Invisibility bit!” Year 10 student Darcy described it as, “Inspirational.” Isaac in Year 11 said, “The lecture was truly inspiring and very interesting. It made me seriously consider a future career path in physics and finding new materials and technologies.I loved it.”

Invisibility a Real Possibility

Report by Mrs Osborne

Ypres Trip

Thirty Seven Year 11 students accompanied Mr. Blackabey, Mr. Payne, Mrs Mudd and Miss Drew to the Battlefields of Ypres and the Somme from 10th to 13th September.

These next four years will be particularly significant for the annual Mounts Bay trip as we mark the centenary of the First World War.

Students visited museums, preserved battlefields, cemeteries and key points on the Ypres Salient and Somme battlefields. Many students, because of their research, were able to visit the resting place of loved ones and leave a cross. The school also laid wreaths at Tyne Cot and Thiepval memorials as well as the German Cemetery of Langemark.

Students were able to walk in preserved trenches and battlefield areas retracing the steps of soldiers a hundred years before them. For many the trip was truly emotional and provided students with insight into the First World War outside of the classroom; an experience not to be forgotten.

The students must be thanked for the maturity they showed, becoming great ambassadors for the school. Thanks also to Mr. Payne, Mrs Mudd and Miss Drew.

BECURIOUSBEINSPIRED

Report by Mr Blackabey

BECREATIVE

School Show Announced

Come to the Performance block and sign up for the characters you would like to audition for. Take the script and rehearse your part over the weekend.

Monday lunchtime will be a singing rehearsal to prepare for the auditions. On Tuesday lunchtime you can learn about the character and gain an overview of the story.

Auditions begin on Wednesday starting with Annie.

See Miss Osborne or Mr Payne for more details.

Yes, its true. Britain's Got Talent is coming to Mounts Bay Academy on Monday 29th September!

If you have a talent and would like to audition can you please contact Mr New to put you name forward. lnew@mountsbay.org

BGT is looking for any type of talent; music, dance, magic.... whatever you are good at.

The opportunity is open to all year groups and staff. You will need to prepare a 90 second performance for your audition.

More information will follow.

Talent Show Visit

New Sports Kit

BECOMPETITIVE

Year 7 footballers showed off Mounts Bay’s new sports kit on Thursday when they met the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. The start of the term has been lit up with the new PE kit and the Year 7s are looking fantastic in their new style tops. With a new, modern design the students have commented on how much they like them and seeing all the students participating in lessons really highlights the collectiveness of the year group already. Durability, comfort and appearance were all considered by a group of students in helping to select the shirts from 'AGAME' sports design.

Sports High Performance Programme

The Sports High Performance Programme is now open to applications from new or returning students for 2014-15.

Who it is for:• Any students who perform to a high standard and/or compete in a variety of sports• Students must be seen to represent their sport to a high standard e.g. County, regional, national• Students must demonstrate that they are actively continuing to improve their performances.

Objectives of the programme:• To improve sporting performance at Mounts Bay Academy• To aid students performance in both sporting and educational environments• To increase sporting opportunities• To educate students and increase their sporting knowledge• To provide a range of support• To provide training opportunities to students

Report by Mr Veal

Click here to find out more

BEA WINNER

Translate the word of the week from either French, German, Spanish or Italian and send your answer to ktripp@mountsbay.org to be entered into the weekly competition.

Use the word of the week in your Language lesson and get a credit from your teacher!

Maths Quiz

This Week’s Puzzle:

You have three bags, each containing two marbles. Bag A contains two white marbles, Bag B contains two black marbles, and Bag C contains one white marble and one black marble. You pick a random bag and take out one marble. It is a white marble.

What is the probability that the remaining marble from the same bag is also white?

Last week’s solution:

The last of the five pictures could be drawn without taking your pencil off the page because each point where the lines meet has an even number of lines joining at that point.

Could you write next week’s puzzle?If you would like to set the numeracy puzzle for a future week click here. You will win house points.

Win an iTunes voucher

For each correct answer throughout this semester we will put your name in the hat for a chance to win an iTunes voucher – the more correct answers, the more chance of winning.

House Competition

Purple: 3 PointsRed: 3 Points

Green: 3 PointsOrange: 3 PointsYellow: 2 PointsBlue: 2 Points

Click here to submit your answer

Last week's answer was change.

The winner was Jessica Venske Well done!

MFL Word of the Week!

crayon matita

lápiz Bleistiftt

BEA WINNER

To enter, simply write an original sentence correctly using the word whirlwind. Send in your sentence using the link below.

Competition

Congratulations to Runa Holt who wins a WH Smith Voucher.

Click Here to enter the competition

Runa receives her prize

This week’s word is: Whirlwind

Definition:

A very strong wind that moves in a spinning or swirling motion and that can damage buildings, trees, etc.

Something that involves many quickly changing events, feelings, etc.

Etymology:

14th century Middle English whirlwynd, probably based on Old Norse hvirfilvindr.

BECHARITABLE

Pink Riders

On Sunday 14th September Alex Woollock and Leah Cornish took part in the Ride for Life. Alex was riding Razzle, an 18 year old horse. She had to ride 12 miles on horse back and raised money in aid of Breast Cancer.

The ride took them just under four hours. Alex said they were both really tired afterwards but really happy that they completed it. The ride was mainly over the moors. Alex's favourite part was dressing Razzle up and spraying him pink! At the end they both received rosettes; Alex got a 1st for being the pinkest rider and horse and a 4th for having the eldest horse. They also both got a big pink rosette for completing the ride!

Report by Charlotte Hornby

Updating to iOS8

After testing iOS8, I have found the following things:

To update, you must have at least 6GB free on your iPad. You can find out your free space at Settings: General: About.

The update is a 6GB download. You cannot reliably download a file of this size in school, so the update must be done at home. If you do not have WiFi at home, see one of the IT team and we will help.

As the update process is long, you must be plugged in to a charger throughout.

When you restart, you will need to enter your AppleID and password. You will also have to accept new terms and conditions from iTunes.

Once you have updated, most of your apps will have to be updated to work properly. This will take some time.

Once updated, iOS seems to have no issues that would affect your use in school.

Given all of this above, if you want to update this weekend, make sure you have copies of any important work, plug the iPad into a charger AT HOME and go to Settings: General: Software Update and follow the instructions.

Report by Mr Elliott

BEINFORMED

CLICK HERE TO VISIT OUR WEBSITE CONTACT US

Mounts Bay, Boscathnoe Lane, Heamoor Penzance, Cornwall TR18 3JT

Principal Mrs S Davey B.Sc. M.Ed

T 01736 363240 | F 01736 352326 E enquiries@mountsbay.org

www.mounts-bay.cornwall.sch.uk

MBS-LH2011-Grey-AW.indd 1 08/06/2011 21:24